The present invention relates to a golf club having a capsule for supporting the strike face of the club. In particular the invention is directed to an inertia capsule formed by casting in a hollow club head to transmit ball impact uniformly across the club face for providing an enlarged sweet spot.
Golf clubs originally were classified as irons and woods, the irons consisting of metal club heads, and the woods consisting of essentially solid wood club heads. More recently the xe2x80x9cwood-typexe2x80x9d golf club heads have been replaced by hollow club heads consisting of a fiber reinforced metal matrix typically fabricated of a thin hollow shell to which is attached a club shaft. Such xe2x80x9chollowxe2x80x9d clubs have largely replaced the conventional true wood clubs and are used as drivers and fairway xe2x80x9cwoodsxe2x80x9d. A problem associated with hollow clubs is that the face of a hollow club may be too thin for the impact of an aggressive golfer and may deform upon impact affecting the golf shot, typically with a loss of distance. In the past, attempts have been made to provide for improved golf club heads having high density inserts for achieving greater distance in strokes. Such inserts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,217,227, 5,143,571, and 5,058,895. These inserts are utilized in the face of a golf club head to improve the club heads moment of inertia and to widen the xe2x80x9csweet spot,xe2x80x9d and on the backside to improve balance and to shift the center of gravity.
A further example of a golf clubs having improved striking face characteristics, is U.S. PAT. No. 5,890,973 to Gamble which incorporates an insert having a conical head to increase the xe2x80x9csweet spotxe2x80x9d of the face of a club and a projection extending rearwardly to the rear of the club. In particular Gamble discloses a club having an insert extending rearwardly from the cap to the rear of the club to reinforce the face of the club and transmit impact forces to the rear of the club.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide for a new and improved golf club to provide for subject inertia capsule for use with a golf club for imparting a shock wave evenly on the sweet spot of the club which overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of prior art.
The present invention consists of two aspects: the first is a method of making a composite golf club having an inertia capsule; and the second the composite golf club made by said method.
In the first aspect the method of the present invention comprises a novel combination of the following steps; in a golf club defining a hollow club head formed by a lost wax casting process comprising a hollow club body casting and a separate cover casting, said cover casting having locating tabs to aid in positioning said cover on the body casting for welding at time of assembly. Said hollow body includes two cast-in-place saddles for the purpose of supporting a cast-and-welded tubular cylinder having venturi shaped inner walls, and having inserted a controlled amount of liquid mercury in said capsule. An air relief channel is provided the upper venturi section permitting the within-contained mercury to move from a position at rest to an impact position providing a secondary force against the face of the club at ball contact.
The first saddle is integrally cast into the club face as are transition curves that are employed to distribute sweet spot coverage on the club. A second saddle is cast into the back of the club. Movement of the liquid in the capsule is enhanced during swinging of the club by providing a secondary force against the face of the club.
In the second aspect the composite golf club of the present invention is directed to a golf club head having a front strike face and a back defining a shell defining a hollow interior chamber, the improvement comprising an inertia capsule configured to be selectively partially filled with mercury fluid for imparting controlled force against distribution curves cast in the strike face. The inertia capsule is supported in said interior chamber by a pair of saddle members comprising a front saddle member integrally cast as part of the strike face as are transition curves that are employed to distribute sweet spot coverage on the club. A second, xe2x80x9crearxe2x80x9d saddle is cast into the back of the club head. The internal tubular inertia capsule includes a venturishaped wall for controlling the flow of fluid such that the fluid imparts an inertial force against the back of the strike face for transmitting a ball impact at the sweet spot of said face uniformly across the club face.
The invention will be described for the purposes of illustration only in connection with certain embodiments; however, it is recognized that those persons skilled in the art may make various changes, modifications, improvements and additions on the illustrated embodiments all without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an inertia capsule positioned by cast saddles for use in combination with transition curves cast into the club face that are employed to distribute sweet spot coverage in order to transmit a ball impact at the sweet spot uniformly across the club face.